A BRAVE teenage girl summoned up extraordinary strength to save the lives of her four younger brothers and sisters after a fire broke out at their home.

After noticing thick smoke in her bungalow while babysitting, Michaela Waller’s first thought was to get her siblings away from the danger.

The 15-year-old led the youngsters - two of whom have severe medical conditions - away from the toxic fumes.

“I thought I could smell burning,” said Michaela of Petch Street, Stockton.

“I looked in my brother’s room and all I could see was smoke.

“I grabbed my little sister and ran out the back door.”

After getting Melinda, five, out the house, Michaela returned for Brandon, six, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder which means at times he uses a wheelchair, George, four, who suffers from chronic asthma, and Mia, two, who were in the living room at the time.

Instead of taking everyone out through the front door, as it was locked and near to the fire, Michaela decided to go through the back garden.

And she even managed to open the garden gate - which she usually finds too heavy to open.

“Normally I can’t lift it, but when the fire was happening I lifted it and was able to move it,” said Michaela, who is about to go into her final year at Our Lady and St Bede School.

“We ran down the road to my mum’s friend’s house.”

Michaela, who is a member of Eastern Ravens, an organisation for young carers, also had the foresight to lock pets Baloo and Ebony in the dog run to keep them out of the way of firefighters.

Neighbour Gill Fisher took the family in and called the fire brigade.

The fire started after a pillow, which had been left against a heater, caught alight at around 5.30pm on Friday.

As the pillow was made of foam, poisonous fumes were released into the room.

It was Michaela’s quick-thinking actions, and by closing doors that meant that the house only suffered smoke damage in the blaze.

Mum Michelle, a full-time carer for her partner Gavin McCabe, who suffers from a genetic disorder and arthritis had been picking up a takeaway, at the time and returned home to find fire engines on her doorstep.

The proud 35-year-old said: “Normally a 15-year-old girl would panic, especially with four little ones but she managed to get them all out.

“The fire brigade said its fumes that can kill. Because it was a spongy pillow the black smoke was everywhere.”

Gill has now nominated Michaela for an Outstanding Act of Bravery Award as a Gazette Community Champion, sponsored by Cleveland Police.

The 49-year-old said: “She had the presence of mind to get her brothers and sisters out. It shows she’s a responsible young carer, who needs some recognition.”